Corned Beef Hash

Money Saving Tip - When a holiday is near, whatever traditional meat is associated with it goes on sale. St. Patricks Day? Point cut corned beef at 0.89 cents per pound. I bought four packages at less than $3.00 each during the second week of March. Expiration date: June 17th - or three months from now. I can find room in the ‘frig for the second two packages.

 

Tasty Comfort Food - Traditional New England Corned Beef Dinner - this is dinner for a Saturday night. Cook the beef according to package directions and add chopped onions, carrots (or parsnips), turnips, potatoes and cabbage for the last hour of cooking. Drain well. Serve with butter, salt and pepper. Yum! Leftovers go in the ‘frig.

 

More Tasty Comfort Food - Homemade Hash for Sunday Brunch. Trim fat from cold corned beef. Slice thin and then dice in small pieces (1/4″ cubes). Chop all leftover veggies to same size as the meat. Toss all in a big bowl and mix thoroughly. Heat some margarine and butter (1/2 and half) in an electric griddle to 275-300 degrees (or a cast iron skillet on medium-low). Scoop in the hash and press down to 1/2″ thickness and fry till golden brown. Flip sections with a spatula and repeat on the other side. Serve with fried eggs and toast. Yum again!

 

Repeat process (with the two saved packages) before June 17th! 

bread pudding

 

This recipe happened in a phone conversation with a friend. She cooks like I do, no measuring, so I honestly have no idea whether this tastes like hers or not. I’d never heard of bread pudding. And I’ve never eaten any but my own. So this may be nowhere near traditional. We’ve been enjoying it on occasion for years now though.

 

Start with stale bread. (I used 1 pound of rolls.) 

 

Slice and butter the bread, lay on sheet pan, broil to toast. Change oven setting to bake at 350 degrees.

 

  

Tear bite sized pieces into a large bowl. 

 

Add cinnamon (1 tsp?) and sugar (1/2-3/4 cup?) so that it smells like cinnamon and sugar toast. 

 

Mix and add six eggs with 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla. 

 

Throw in a couple handfuls of raisins. (It’s snowing like mad outdoors, so I’m not running to the store for apples and walnuts, but they’re good to add too.) Stir. 

 

Add two cups of milk. Stir. 

 

 

Pour in greased baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. 

 

 

Serve with homemade whipped cream. (Another ingredient I’m missing this snowy day.)

 

Eat it warm on a day like today! 

 

 

Hello world!

 

Bub is at work right now and he doesn’t yet officially know that he’s the star of a new cooking-show-blog. We’ve talked about it, once I think, but one of the awesome things about Bub is that he won’t mind. He’s so amazingly easy to get along with. 

 

I guess that means the “show” is currently awaiting production. No video - yet. Hoping that when Z gets home from school he’ll say “sure, I’ll be your videographer/editor/director/sound guy”. Also hoping we can figure out how to get it all in the computer and online. 

 

Did I mention I’m a good cook?

 

Wish us luck?

 

And check back - there’s an awesome Sunday Brunch planned.